The break in the pipeline happened in a remote area, and officials said no water was contaminated or wildlife hurt.
As if those two items were important relative to the farmers field and livelihood in question. Yea, I know, seven and a half acres.
One would also ask what the capabilities of pipeline monitoring are these days, how big a hole before someone is able to detect the leak? Thackney would know or know where to find out.
Warm air clashing with cooler air....... Algore just might be on to something. I think it’s called profit from fools buying your snake oil.
If pipelines are not flown as many of the majors are regularly flown over for monitoring, it can be difficult to discover relatively small leaks before they become big leaks.
Fly-over is for more than looking for oil on the ground. They will notice and investigate a dead/dying vegetation along the right-of-way that could indicate a below grade seeping into the soil.
Also the make notice of construction equipment that had not previously notified the pipeline company as required if digging in the area. Those will have someone quickly driving out.
But measurement in and out of pipeline are not perfectly accurate. It can be difficult to see the difference quickly until a trend line develops.
Typically, the best prevention is proper maintenance. The pipelines have corrosion prevention system like impressed current rectifiers, sacrificial anodes, etc. Inspection and noticing changes of those along with smart-pigging for internal measurement can prevent many problems before they spill.